


How Laurent Got A Date Despite Being A Condescending Idiot

by pixiedustatsundown



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Auguste (Captive Prince) Lives, M/M, Second-Hand Embarrassment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-11
Updated: 2019-07-11
Packaged: 2020-06-26 09:56:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19765813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pixiedustatsundown/pseuds/pixiedustatsundown
Summary: “I don’t even know what to say to him, I will make a complete fool out of myself and he will laugh me in the face.”“Nonsense, the room is full of very important and very sophisticated people. He would discreetly make fun of you with his friends after you left.” Laurent turns back to her, glaring. This doesn’t help his nerves at all, or her cause. “Look darling, this is one of those charity functions that few know the purpose of. He won’t be interested in what you have to say. Tell him you have money, tell him it’s more than you know what to do with. You are pretty, you are rich - that is all it takes here. Just smile, say something obnoxiously witty and throw your money around.”Laurent would have been content admiring the man from afar - if only Vannes hadn't made it a challenge.





	How Laurent Got A Date Despite Being A Condescending Idiot

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a conversation on the Capri Discord  
> Thank you at my wonderful beta!

“I’ll go talk to him,” with a decisive nod, Vannes empties the last of her glass. 

“Sure, if you think that would be fun. I won’t stop you.” 

“Laurent, that was a _threat_. You were supposed to stop me and beg me not to, giving me the _perfect opportunity_ to suggest _you_ go over there. You have been drooling all evening and quite frankly, I am sick of it.” Laurent can feel himself blush as his eyes flit again to the man in question. It’s undeniable - he _is_ very attractive. He is tall, a wild mess of dark curls on his head, ridiculously athletic and a warm laugh that reverberates through the entire room. However, Laurent had most definitely _not_ been drooling over him. He glares at her for daring to suggest he _would_ , receiving only a smirk. 

“You do know how a threat works, right? It’s supposed to scare me into doing as you want. As I don’t care about him, there is nothing you could say to him that would make me want to go over there myself.”

“Okay, no threat then,” Vannes shifts in her chair, leaning closer to him, “let’s make it a challenge, shall we? I don’t think you have the guts to go over. I think you are scared to talk to him and would much rather sit here and whine later about the hot guy who didn’t talk to you.” She is right. Terribly, embarrassingly right and by the smug expression on her face she knows it too. Laurent throws his napkin at her. Vannes catches it and throws it right back, but this time Laurent doesn’t catch it, too caught up in staring at the ‘hot guy’. He is talking to a friend now, possibly a brother, laughing again, drawing Laurent in like a moth to the flame - helpless and doomed to burn. 

Not only has she terrifying insight in his motivation, Vannes knows exactly what she is doing when she phrases it as a challenge - Laurent was never able to resist one of those and the wretched woman knows that all too well. “I don’t even know what to say to him, I will make a complete fool out of myself and he will laugh me in the face.” 

“Nonsense, the room is full of very important and very sophisticated people. He would discreetly make fun of you with his friends after you left.” Laurent turns back to her, glaring. This doesn’t help his nerves at all, or her cause. “Look darling, this is one of those charity functions that few know the purpose of. He won’t be interested in what you have to _say_. Tell him you have money, tell him it’s more than you know what to do with. You are pretty, you are rich - that is all it takes here. Just smile, say something obnoxiously witty and throw your money around.” 

That is not what Laurent wants to do at all. He is only here because Auguste asked him to and he is weak when it comes to his brother. There are very good reasons Auguste will inherit the company and Laurent will be his adviser. One being that Laurent is not good at dealing with shallow people, with this kind of events, smiling through insults and pretending to care. Neither is Auguste, but the difference is that he is utterly charming about it, it’s impossible not to like him. 

“Why would I want to do that, exactly?” 

“Because I dared you to. Now go.” She gives him a rather strong push, winks at him and orders a new drink as an have an excuse to flirt with the bartender. Laurent sighs. He knows he is being played, he isn’t stupid, and she couldn’t have made it more blatant. He should just stay here, defy her expectations and save his dignity. All the same Laurent stands up, cursing himself for being predictable and easy to manipulate, yet determined to make the best of it. 

Thankfully the man is alone by the time Laurent reaches him - this will be painful enough without people to witness him. Laurent takes a deep breath, reminds himself of Vannes’s advice and puts on a bright smile. 

“Hey there, what is someone as beautiful as you doing all alone?” Laurent cringes internally at the corny line, but the man rewards him with a warm chuckle that makes something flutter in chest. Perhaps it’s his heart, beating faster than it should, loud and surely audible to everyone else in the room. 

“I could ask you the same. Why don’t you join me, remedy this situation for both of us?” His smile is even brighter up close, small and amused but sincere, revealing dimples that give him a cheeky charm. He is irresistible, and Laurent agrees before he can stop himself. 

“I’m Damen, what’s your name? I don’t think I have seen you around before, I would have remembered.” There is something suggestive about his tone, stealing Laurent’s breath and making him blush. This is not how this was supposed to go, _Laurent_ was supposed to be the charming and suave one, making _him_ flustered and stumbling over his words. All Damen had to do was smile at him. Desperately he clings to what Vannes told him, to what these people always do when they have an unexpected problem: throw money at it. 

“Laurent DeVere. Pleased to meet you,” wide smile here. “I’m sure you heard of my family - we are _very_ wealthy.” 

Damen laughs at that, throwing his head back, expressing his amusement with a full body laugh. Laurent is afraid he said something wrong but then Damen smiles at him, soothing the worry and replacing it with pride at making him laugh like that, like no one else did this evening, like he would like to do again. “Laurent DeVere, allow me to say the pleasure is all mine.” 

The phrase is often used and seldom meant but considering the way Damen holds his eyes, speaking in an earnest tone, Laurent thinks he might mean it. Or maybe he is a fool charmed by pretty eyes and a bright smile. Laurent doesn’t care either way - he is having more fun right now than the rest of his time at this dreadful thing, so he would not question it now. 

“So, Damen, do you often frequent charity events?” Damen gives him a considering look, as if confused, but Laurent keeps his smile up. It was a normal question, there is no reason to be weird about it. Except if Damen doesn’t - oh no, what if Damen is here as someone’s plus one? Not invited personally because he doesn’t have the money to donate or the importance to be seen here. Now Laurent is forcing him to admit to something one would like to hide here. He is about to apologise but Damen is faster.

“Not as many as I would like, I am very busy you see.” Busy - of course. Laurent doesn’t believe him, but he would also not question him further, he humiliated the poor man enough for an evening. But there is something he could do to make it up to him - he gets invited to more events than he cares to count and if Damen wants to go, it would only be right to invite him along. 

“You know, I could take you with me, to the next event. I always get terribly bored - but with you as my arm candy-” Laurent stops when he realises what he is saying. Trying to make it look intentional, he puts on the most pretentious expression he can muster - which is incredibly and disgustingly pretentious in his humble opinion - and gives Damen a cocky smirk. Once again Damen watches him steadily, a small smile curling his lips but his eyes clearly calculating. 

“I don’t know-” Damen begins but Laurent interrupts him. He came too far to back off now. 

“Don’t worry sweetheart, I could send you a car if you need one. It would be very rude of me not to take care of my guest,” he is imitating his father when he is lecturing him about something, tone stern and face serious, but he adds a smile at the end because he really does want Damen to say yes. To Laurent’s surprise, he enjoys talking to Damen, despite the restrictions laid upon him, and would like to get to know him further. Ideally not in such a stiff and proper environment, but he will take whatever he can get. 

“Alright then, how could I say no to _such_ an offer,” Laurent feels like he is missing something, like Damen is really laughing _at_ him now, but he doesn’t care. Damen said yes and somehow that is all that is important. 

“I have to excuse myself for a moment, promise not to move?” he takes Laurent’s hands in his, eyes pleading with him and giving the simple request more depth than it probably needs. Laurent can’t say no. 

“I promise to wait if you promise to come back.” Damen smiles at him, squeezes his hand, presses a quick kiss to his cheek and leaves, gone in the crowd. Laurent misses him already. 

Laurent sinks down at a nearby desk, settling down for the wait and trying to reason this out. It’s ridiculous, that he should be so affected by someone who is only interested because of his money. But then, Laurent did all he could to interest him in his money. Maybe he should use the next evening - decidedly _not_ a date - to talk about other things, find out who Damen is and test if he is interested in finding out who he is in turn. 

“If I could get your attention for a moment,” Laurent groans, a speech is the last thing he needs right now. But the voice is familiar, almost like - but that can’t be, impossible. Laurent looks up, seeing that it is indeed Damen standing in the middle of the crowd, a space cleared around him, microphone in hand and a bright smile on his face. What is he doing? 

“I wanted to thank you all for coming to this event - it means a great deal to me and being allowed to host it has been a great honour. I am sure the money donated today will make many lives better. I would love to keep talking to you all, but I have a stunning blond who keeps flirting with me and I would like to get back to him and I am sure you have your own things to get back to.” Damen says some more about the charity and how they could help further if interested but Laurent isn’t listening. This is mortifying! Humiliating! He wishes the ground would open and swallow him. The closest he can get to that is hiding beneath the table, which is cowardly and disgraceful, but he would do anything to get away now, before Damen comes back. 

Trying to subtly glide of his chair and under the table to where the long tablecloth would finally shield him only results in him falling on his knees as he loses his balance, ripping down the whole thing with everything on it, creating a huge crash and turning every eye on him. Fantastic. Whispers break out, muffled laughter and pitying looks, and Laurent wants _away_. This has been a terrible idea, he should leave and forget everything about Damen and this mess and blame everything on Vannes. 

“What’s someone as beautiful as you doing all alone on the floor?” Laurent flinches as Damen repeats the corny line he had used on him, throwing in his face how he behaved. Laurent is still thinking on his reply when Damen sits down next to him, closer than necessary for a conversation but not quite touching. He looks at Damen in confusion, shouldn’t he be laughing at him right now? 

“I meant it, I really would like to flirt some more.” Damen is smiling, as if it where that easy. 

“You are hosting this party.” It comes out more accusing than he hoped, but accusing is better than crying so he goes with it. Damen does looks appropriately scolded, blushing and fidgeting. 

“Yes, I thought you knew. I didn’t mean to embarrass you.” Despite what his head tells him, Laurent, foolish and naive and hopeful, believes him. Damen is here, not laughing, sitting on the ground, surrounded by broken glass and spilled drinks, next to Laurent and smiling at him. It suddenly hits him that he could love this man, easily, that already he doesn’t want him to leave. 

“I suppose I won’t have to take you to the next event then? That you will be invited yourself?” Laurent needs to know where they stand, if Damen even wants to be around him after the condescending way he behaved. 

“No, and I don’t want to go anyway,” Laurent’s heart falls at that. Of course, he doesn’t want anything to do with him anymore. “I would much rather take you out on a date.” 

Damen is smiling, small and crooked, dimple on his face and curls falling in his eyes. 

How could Laurent say no?

  


**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are appreciated!  
> If you liked this story you can [reblog it on Tumblr](https://pixiedustatsundown.tumblr.com/post/186210226443/how-laurent-got-a-date-despite-being-a)


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